Harold

We are about to perform a series of scenes loosely connected to one theme. May I get a general theme please.

Description

The Harold is simply a series of scenes that are connected by a common very general theme. The theme must be asked for very carefully. Nouns are generally discouraged, but you may take the closest ‘theme’ associated the noun and do a Harold based on that. For instance, ‘toothbrush’ could be a set up for the theme ‘cleaning’. This would allow for all kinds of cleaning to take place: cleansing of souls, janitorial jobs, erasing disks, etc. The scenes in a Harold are almost all open scenes. There is no rule that a game based on the theme could not be played, but there should not be a set up for the handle within the Harold. When a series of open scenes are being played it important that all the players understand how to signal a scene change. The easiest way to signal scene transitions is to have someone else do it for the players. This can be done by dimming, but no blacking out the lights. When the lights dim it is a signal that a scene has ended, and players should be up to start a new scene immediately. The next method is to have players from offstage clap their hands to end a scene (this is probably where the synonym ‘Herald’ arose from). When someone claps their hands off-stage the players on-stage cut out and are replaced. Probably the most sophisticated method is where the players simply block each other out on-stage. Players that are coming on to start a new scene enter down-stage (in front of) to the players that are doing the scene. Players that are joining the scene arrive from upstage (behind) the players doing the scene. How does a Harold end? Hopefully the scenes will organically start to flow together with recurring characters such that one story is dominating all the scenes and new scenes are in support of the singular story. So the Harold will end when the story ends.